Paxton: State free to background-check refugees

Updated 5:04 pm, Tuesday, May 17, 2016

FILE - In this July 29, 2015 file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton looks on during a hearing in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

FILE - In this July 29, 2015 file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton looks on during a hearing in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Photo: Eric Gay, STF

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Texas, traditionally a hub for refugees, has been sparring with the Obama administration over the relocation of people fleeing the Syrian civil war. Here are the 10 things you need to know about the legal battle.

Syrian refugees carry a baby over the border fence into Turkey from Syria, June 14, 2015. less

Texas, traditionally a hub for refugees, has been sparring with the Obama administration over the relocation of people fleeing the Syrian civil war. Here are the 10 things you need to know about the legal

2. Gov. Greg Abbott was one of the first governors to announce his opposition to Syrian refugees in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. More than 30 governors, nearly all of whom are Republicans, now have taken that position. less

2. Gov. Greg Abbott was one of the first governors to announce his opposition to Syrian refugees in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. More than 30 governors, nearly all of whom are ... more

Photo: Archivo, Houston Chronicle

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3. No refugees participated in the terrorist attacks in Paris. Officials found a passport near the body of one of the attackers, but it was fake.

A soldier patrols in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. less

3. No refugees participated in the terrorist attacks in Paris. Officials found a passport near the body of one of the attackers, but it was fake.

A soldier patrols in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris, ... more

Photo: Frank Augstein, STF

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4. The International Rescue Committee, the nonprofit organization being sued because it is coordinating the move of Syrian refugees, is not the largest of the dozen refugee resettlement organizations in the state. The largest is the Catholic Charities, Inc., which has five different branches. less

4. The International Rescue Committee, the nonprofit organization being sued because it is coordinating the move of Syrian refugees, is not the largest of the dozen refugee resettlement organizations in the ... more

Photo: Tony Gutierrez, Associated Press

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5. The International Rescue Committee’s contract with the state for refugee resettlement is valued at roughly $200,000 per year.

In this photo taken on Friday, Oct. 23, 2015, Refugees stand at a camp in Latakia, Syria. z less

5. The International Rescue Committee’s contract with the state for refugee resettlement is valued at roughly $200,000 per year.

In this photo taken on Friday, Oct. 23, 2015, Refugees stand at a camp in ... more

Photo: Vladimir Isachenkov, STF

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6. The International Rescue Committee informed Texas state officials that would soon place Syrian refugees in Texas back on Nov. 18, although it did not become public until more than a week later.

Syrian refugees walk along the roads of the border town of Idomeni, northern Greece, to cross the border and enter Macedonia﻿. less

6. The International Rescue Committee informed Texas state officials that would soon place Syrian refugees in Texas back on Nov. 18, although it did not become public until more than a week later.

7. Texas was the first state in the country to file a lawsuit to block Syrian refugees, although days earlier Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was sued by the ACLU over his opposition to Syrian refugees.

In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, refugees cheer and chant pro-Turkey slogans as they wait on the Syrian side of the border in order to cross, under the watchful eye of a Turkish soldier on an armored personnel carrier, Sunday, June 14, 2015. less

7. Texas was the first state in the country to file a lawsuit to block Syrian refugees, although days earlier Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was sued by the ACLU over his opposition to Syrian refugees.

9. The judge overseeing the case was appointed to the bench in 2002 by then-President George W. Bush. It was a lifetime appointment.

Syrian refugees look at Hungarian riot police from the Serbian side of the fence at the border in Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. less

9. The judge overseeing the case was appointed to the bench in 2002 by then-President George W. Bush. It was a lifetime appointment.

Syrian refugees look at Hungarian riot police from the Serbian side of the ... more

Photo: Manu Brabo, STR

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10. One member of the six-person family whose scheduled arrival sparked the lawsuit is the half-brother of a Syrian refugee who has lived in Dallas since February. That man, Faez al Sharaa, also may be the most famous Syrian refugee in the country after agreeing to an interview over the Thanksgiving holiday in TIME Magazine. He said he fled Syria in early 2013 after being threatened at gunpoint.

Migrants and refugees warm up around a bonfire as they wait to enter the refugee camp after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija, on December 6, 2015. less

10. One member of the six-person family whose scheduled arrival sparked the lawsuit is the half-brother of a Syrian refugee who has lived in Dallas since February. That man, Faez al Sharaa, also may be the most

AUSTIN -- Texas' controversial plan to conduct background checks on refugees coming to the state for resettlement is legal because there is no federal law prohibiting the practice, Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled Tuesday.

Even so. law enforcement officials said they expect the ruling will have little effect because there is little information on most refugees that can be checked.

In a three-page decision, which carries the force of law until challenged in court, Paxton also said Tuesday that conditions placed by federal officials on federal refugee funding likely are unenforceable "because the conditions do not provide clear notice to the state of how it must use the federal funding."

While the legal opinion appears to clear Texas' plan to do background checks on incoming refugees from Syria and other countries in the Mideast, it does not address whether the state can refuse the resettlement of those refugees in Texas as top state leaders had called for earlier.

It also notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out certain state laws on the grounds that they are preempted by the federal government's authority over immigration.

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Refugee agencies earlier had decried the state's plan to deny entry into Texas for some refugees as a violation of federal law, which they said gives the federal government total authority over the resettlement program.

The attorney general's opinion was requested by state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, who wanted to know whether the state was required to comply with restrictions on the federal resettlement funds that were not specifically found in federal law.

Perry also asked whether the state could do background checks on incoming refugees, a step that Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials said was a key to determining whether any had ties to terrorist organizations or a past that could pose a security threat to Texans.

Paxton said that while the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement requires states to "meet standards, goals and priorities" to ensure refugees are resettled properly in the United States, "few restrictions on refugee funding to the states are found in the text of the federal statute."

"A court would likely, therefore, conclude that any such conditions that are not found in the text of a federal statute are unenforceable under the law," the opinion states.

On the question about the legality of background checks by the state, Paxton said "security concerns may provide a rational basis on which a state could distinguish between individuals deemed to pose a heightened security risk and those who do not."

"While we do not opine on the legality of any specific security verifications that the state may impose, we have not been directed to, nor do we find any law generally prohibiting the state from performing security verifications when allocating refugee funding."

Last December, Texas went to court to keep Syrian refugees out of the state, claiming the federal government and the International Rescue Committee – one of about 20 private nonprofits that have state contracts to resettle refugees in Texas – were violating federal law by moving forward with the planned resettlement of two Syrian families.

The lawsuit alleged that the federal government and the IRC had not fulfilled their contractual obligations to consult and provide information to state officials under the Refugee Act of 1980.

The suit was dismissed, and several dozen Syrian refugees since have been resettled in Texas.

Abbott's office had no immediate comment on the attorney general's opinion Tuesday.

Late last year, however, Abbott said the issue was one of public safety.

Abbott back then asserted that the federal government did not have adequate background information to conduct proper security checks on the Syrian nationals. He cited an attack on a Garland event that hosted a contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad last May. Two Phoenix men opened fire on security guards outside the event, wounding one. Police returned fire, killing both men. ISIS claimed credit.

"Given the tragic attacks in Paris and the threats we have already seen, Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees – any one of whom could be connected to terrorism – being resettled in Texas," Abbott said at the time.

Earlier, state officials had acknowledged that conducting background checks on refugees could prove problematic, since they did not have access to overseas files on the men and women from the war-torn region, files that may not even exist. They were insistent, however, that some form of background checks needed to be done to ensure public safety.

The issue flared into political controversy last year when Abbott joined 19 others governors in refusing to take Syrian refugees because of concerns that some could be terrorists. Initial lawsuits to block the admissions were dismissed.

Last fiscal year, nearly 1,700 Syrian refugees were resettled in the United States, including 90 in Houston, among 213 statewide. Brian Black, a spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said 21 Syrian refugees have resettled in Texas since the end of August.

Of the 18,000 Syrians currently being referred by the U.N. refugee agency, about 10,000 are well along in their clearance and expected to arrive in greater numbers in the next few months, federal immigration officials said.

State officials said Texas' role in resettlement primarily is one of coordination and distribution of federal funds to local agencies and nonprofits for employment, health, education reimbursements and cash assistance.

White House officials said the refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any travelers to the United States, including an investigation by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center and the departments of Homeland Security, State and Defense.

On Tuesday, state Health and Human Services Commission officials said that private agencies continue to work with the federal government to resettle refugees in Texas.

State agencies expect to receive about $68 million this year in federal funds for refugee-related services, officials said.